Sunday, December 05, 2004

Butternut Squash Squares

I may as well post the recipe I used to service yesterday's butternut squash puree. I hadn't intended on it since I planned on adapting it to my previously posted Sweet Potato Squash Loaf. But the unexpectantly thin consistency of the puree was a small adjustment that changed a familiar recipe into a pleasant surprise. So here it resides, for two reasons:

The batter was more fluid than I had anticipated, so at the last minute I decided to cook it in a square pan instead of a loaf pan, with good results!

For some reason, it's getting rave reviews from the FRE, who generally views squash and other gourds as Halloween decorations, aghast they could serve a purpose other than colorful porch adornment:

Note: I had prepared an 8 by 4 inch loaf pan to contain my batter. After its final mix, I judged it too wet to cook in a loaf pan ... the middle would be mushy and undercooked. If I tried extending the baking time, experience told me the middle would still be mushy and undercooked, and the edges would be overcooked. At the last minute I decided to use a square cake pan. I'm glad I did. The batter cooked evenly, neither underdone nor overdone anywhere. Instead of slices of loaf, I ended up with squash squares.

Insulated cookie sheets and cake pans were a boon to baking. The small pocket of air trapped between two closely-spaced sheets of aluminum slows heat transfer, preventing edge or bottom burning and allowing batters to rise more evenly, without the characteristic hump in the middle. You can simulate an insulated pan by nesting two inexpensive pans of the same size. I've done that here with two 8 by 8 pans.

Note: Egg proteins coagulate or curdle in the presence of acids. The liquid ingredients in this recipe are acidic enough to cause coagulation. This can be reduced if eggs are added just before baking.

5 Stir together the first 12 ingredients (dry ingredients).

Note: Sifting is an effective way to mix and aerate dry ingredients. However, the particulate matter in this combination will make sifting difficult, so be sure to mix these dry ingredients thoroughly, breaking up and distributing any chunks of baking powder or baking soda.

Unless your flour uses the word "pastry" or "soft", it is probably made from a hard or winter wheat that contains a little more protein. This extra protein will absorb more water and produce more gluten, resulting in a denser, less voluminous product than if you used pastry flour.

6 Measure nuts and chop if necessary.

7 Add about 2 tbsp. of the liquid batter to the whisked eggs and beat. Slowly pour the beaten eggs back into the liquid batter, whisking the batter as you pour.

8 Add dry ingredients to wet. Stir until just combined and no or very few dry lumps remain. Gently stir in chopped nuts. Pour into prepared 8 by 8 inch square pan. Bake at 350°F. for approximately 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

9 Cool thoroughly (1 to 2 hours) in the pan before cutting into squares. The squares may be eaten then or stored in the freezer.

Note: Pop a frozen one into a plastic bag in the morning and enjoy a moist, spicy squash square for lunch!

I was wondering if any of your recipes listed over to the right are "resistant starch" recipes ? ? (My computer is super, super slow, so it would take me a couple of days just waiting for it to open each recipe to check it out.)

This is definitely the best list I have seen; thanks! I did want to clarify that all the foods that did not say "cooled" had not been cooled, but the article was already closed to comments, so I could not. I think I read somewhere that cooling roughly doubles the amount of RS . . . is that the case for all foods with RS?

BTW, I thought when I registered to comment on this blog that I would be getting an email notice if someone commented to one of my comments, but this has not been the case. Is it possible to get email notifications?

I also had a question about the numbers after each food in the list. For example after potato crisps, it says "(25 g/1 oz) 1 g". That looks to me like they have 25 grams per 1 oz of crisps, which is roughly a serving. If so, what does the "1 g" mean? And with whole wheat pasta: does it have 150 g per serving, or just 2 g ?

I think the numbers in parentheses are the serving size, given in grams and rough equivalent ounces. Then the number at the end is the grams of resistant starch. So the whole wheat pasta would have just 2g in a 150g-or-5oz serving.

About cooling ... there are different types of starches; they behave differently when heated, cooled. I think it's hard to pin down a number for what cooling does, even for a particular food. Maybe they go into more depth in their book, the Carb Lover's Diet?

Checking that box for email follow-up should do it, unless Google is having problems. There isn't anything I do on my end. I'll admit, I don't always get notified of follow-up comments when I check it on other blogs.